News & Perspectives on Beer and its Culture

Tartastic Lemon Ginger Sour

New Belgium Brewing (Fort Collins, Colorado) has officially announced that it is launching its rotating Tartastic Series with the release of Tartastic Raspberry Lime Ale.

To build off of the success of the previously released Tartastic Lemon Ginger Sour, New Belgium has decided to reestablish the “Tartastic” brand in 2018 as a rotating series of kettle-soured, fruit-forward beers. Each release in the Tartastic series will be “a blend of two beers – one that is traditionally fermented and one that undergoes a lactobacillus fermentation that creates a subtle tartness.” Once the two beers are combined, the overall tartness will be tempered and result in “a very refreshing and sessionable beer packed with fruit flavors and aromas.” Although the Tartastic Series will focus on “other new flavors rotating throughout the year”, it will eventually include the return of the wildly popular Lemon Ginger Sour that started it all.

“We found most of the current competitive offerings to be overly sweet, almost artificial in flavor,” said Ross Koenigs, Brewer at New Belgium. “Our goal here is to let the fruits’ natural sweetness shine through while being complimented and enhanced by blending with a kettle sour. The crew in the brewhouse is pumped to have a new platform to explore all that fruit can bring to the beer table.”

The first Tartastic Series release of 2018 will be Tartastic Raspberry Lime Ale, a raspberry hued brew that possesses “welcoming aromas of raspberry, strawberry and cherry, followed by lemon and lime.” Clocking in at an easy drinking 4.2% ABV, Tartastic Raspberry Lime Ale boasts “an irresistibly playful sweet-tart sip that’ll put a smile on your face every time.”

Tartastic Raspberry Lime Ale is available now for a limited time in 6-packs of 12 oz. bottles and on draft. You can expect to find this new offering at craft beer establishments located in Alabama, Florida, Colorado, North Carolina and throughout the rest of New Belgium’s distribution area. Prost!